A black man convicted in the death of a white, Chassidic scholar during race riots in the 1990s was stabbed in the head with an ice pick in a possible road rage attack, police say.
Lemrick Nelson was found outside his car on a Manhattan street in the early morning hours of Sept. 12 and taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. Police had made no arrests as of Sept. 14.
Nelson was a central figure in the rioting that tore through Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood in 1991.
Nelson, who was 16 at the time, was acquitted of state murder charges but was convicted of federal civil rights charges for the killing of Yankel Rosenbaum. An appeals court later overturned the federal conviction, saying the judge had tampered with the racial makeup of the jury.
In 2003, a new jury found Nelson guilty of violating Rosenbaum’s civil rights. Nelson was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released within a year because of time he had already served. Now 35, Nelson was on probation for three years. He has been living in New Jersey. — ap